Some big changes are coming to a section of Congress Street next week: Left turns won't be allowed onto some side streets.

But if you've seen No Left Turn signs along that route this week, forget about them. The plans have been changed so the signs are wrong and should be removed by Monday.

The area affected is along Congress Street in the area between Lafayette High School and Bayou Shadows Apartments.

Starting Monday, left turns from Congress Street onto Monteigne Drive, Meadow Lane and Sunny Lane will be prohibited from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. on weekdays. Left turns onto Vital Street will be prohibited at all times.

"All this is based on the crashes," Warren Abadie, Lafayette city-parish transportation engineer, said. "This is a safety change."

There are no turning lanes in that section, so turning left from Congress Street onto the sides streets causes traffic jams and sometimes accidents, especially during rush hour.

Between 35,000 and 40,000 vehicles travel on that stretch of Congress Street daily, Abadie said. There were 119 crashes with 54 injuries in that section of Congress Street between 2010 and 2013, he said.

"We understand that the planned left turn prohibition will be less convenient for the residents in the area, but disallowing left turn movements is expected to be highly beneficial to public safety," Abadie wrote in an email to The Daily Advertiser.

Starting Monday, from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. on weekdays, southwest-bound vehicles (traveling from the Cajundome toward Lafayette High) on West Congress Street will not be allowed to turn left onto Sunny Lane, Meadow Lane, Monteigne Drive and Vital Street. The restrictions will not apply to motorists traveling northwest on Congress Street, from Lafayette High toward the Cajundome.

Motorists on Sunny Lane, Meadow Lane and Monteigne Drive can continue to turn left onto Congress Street at all times, but no left turns will be allowed from Vital Street at any time, Abadie said.

"We will be monitoring how well the prohibited turns are working, will make adjustments as necessary, and will also be looking at timing of some of the traffic lights in the area, since we know this will change traffic patterns somewhat," said Kevin Blanchard, chief development officer for Lafayette Consolidated Government.